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Do animals have belly buttons?

You may have noticed some things that are similar about humans and other animals -- for example, most animals have legs or feet, eyes, and mouths! Animals eat food, sleep, and are sometimes even happy or sad, just like people! But what about belly buttons -- do animals have those too??

The answer is that some animals have belly buttons, but not all of them! Animals who are mammals all have belly buttons, because these animals are all born from the mother. (Rather than animals like reptiles, who hatch from eggs.) Mammals have belly buttons because the navel is the spot on the body where a special tube used to connect the mother and baby, which was how the baby received food and oxygen before it was born. In some mammals, like humans, the belly button is really easy to see while in others, like cats and dogs, the scar heals more completely and then gets covered by lots of fur!

Some other animals can also have "belly buttons" that are similar to those of mammals. While it’s not quite the same as a mammal’s umbilical cord, some animals like certain birds and reptiles have a tube that connects them to the nutrients in the egg from which they hatch. Similar to mammals, this tube leaves behind a navel-like scar after birth!